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Passive Learning Imprints On The Brain Just Like Active Learning
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by ryanborja | July 15, 2008 at 06:17 pm
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It's conventional wisdom that practice makes perfect. But if practicing only consists of watching, rather than doing, does that advance proficiency? Yes, according to a study by Dartmouth researchers. They determined that people can acquire motor skills through the "seeing" as well as the "doing" form of learning.
This research contributes to a growing body of study about how people learn and how best to help people with brain injuries. Cross explains that future studies might consider how such overlap between physical and observational learning at the brain level can improve upon rehabilitation therapies for individuals affected by physical or neurological injury.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (2)
at 18:23 on July 15th, 2008
I often find that I can learn much more quickly if I watch someone do something once and then try it myself. I learn better that way personally.
at 23:39 on July 15th, 2008
A study of a primate species in the Japanese island of Hokkaido in the '80s has shown that this, indeed, rings true...even to non-humans.
(Apologies for the lack of details) A female monkey one day tried opening a nut by slamming it on a rock, an action that has never been recorded by the scientists before. Since then, other monkeys have followed suit and were using the same technique to crack open the nuts.
It would be interesting to know if the "custom" has persisted to this day. Then we have evidence of non-human culture at play.